Poetic plural

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The poetic e plural is used by poets (rarely by prose writers ) instead of the singular , although no plural is denoted. This phenomenon occurs mainly in the languages Greek and Latin . It is not uncommon for the use of the poetic plural to be conditioned by metrical constraints; often, however, the plural is used for differentiation: “the heavens” instead of “the spheres of heaven” or for amplification, ie the poet makes the aforementioned appear larger through the plural form.

Examples from Greek literature

ἐν σπέεσι (en speesi; in caves)

ἐν στήθεσσι (en stethessi; in breasts)

"Plural in Homer often without recognizable meaning instead of the singular"


Examples from the Latin language (the poetic plural is often found in body parts):

ora (the mouths)

cervicibus (the neck)

colla (the necks)

corpora (the bodies)

pectora (the breasts)


coepta (the beginnings)

currus (the wagons)

dona (the presents)

sceptra (the scepter)

silentia (silence)

Remarks

  1. ↑ Raphael Kühner , Bernhard Gerth : Detailed grammar of the Greek language. Sentence theory. First part . Fourth edition, Leverkusen 1955, p. 18
  2. ↑ Sophocles , Antigone 1041: ἐς Διὸς θρόνους: on Zeus 'thrones, ie on Zeus' great throne
  3. ↑ Homer , Odyssey 1:15
  4. ↑ Homer, Odyssey 20:22
  5. ^ Eduard Bornemann : Selection from Homer's Odyssey. Word knowledge . Diesterweg. Frankfurt / Main et al., 17th edition 1970, p. 9
  6. ^ Ovid , Metamorphoses 1.93; 1.181; 1.484; 2,324; 8.229
  7. ↑ Ovid, Metamorphoses 1,542
  8. ↑ Ovid, Metamorphoses 3.422
  9. ↑ Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.326
  10. ↑ Ovid, Metamorphoses 11,411
  11. ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 1,2
  12. ↑ Ovid, Metamorphoses 2.387
  13. ↑ Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.52
  14. ↑ Ovid, metamorphoses 1.596; 11,560
  15. ^ Ovid, Metamorphoses 10.30; 10.53

literature

  • Eduard Hailer: Contributions to the explanation of the poetic plural among the Roman elegists. Program of the Royal Humanistic Gymnasium in Freising for the school year 1901/02. Freising 1902
  • Raphael Kühner , Bernhard Gerth : Detailed grammar of the Greek language. Sentence theory. First part . Fourth edition, Leverkusen 1955
  • Raphael Kühner, Carl Stegmann : Detailed grammar of the Latin language. Second part: sentence theory. First volume . Darmstadt 1966, pp. 82-85
  • Paul Maas : Studies on the poetic plural among the Romans . Teubner, Leipzig 1903
  • Gregor Maurach : Latin poet language. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1995, § 121 = pp. 84–86 (with details of older literature in note 82)